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Ok, first, I just want to say: Wow. A labor of love, true to the heartrending core of the J.M. Barrie book while updating the content in modern and inclusive ways. I will strive to avoid spoilers. I will also note I have no connection to the author, and purchased the book for its current price.
As with my last review, I will rate the book on 4 axes: Utility, quality, presentation, and price.
Utility: This supplement really does provide all the supplementary material and rules needed to run a game in this setting, and it does so within a mere 30 pages. Anyone with a love of Barrie’s work should purchase this product for use in their favored system, for while the system rules used are 5e DnD, it is easily adaptable. As a minor quibble, there are no CR’s in the statblocks…but that could be construed as good or bad, given how far off CR usually is.
5/5
Quality: The writing is exquisite, clear, readable, evocative. The characters are portrayed faithfully, neither disneyfied nor needlessly changed. All changes are for good reasons surrounding inclusiveness and faithful portrayal of marginalized people. The bad are bad, the good are good…and Pan is Pan. Bravo. The tiniest of tics is taken off for a few minor grammatical errors that did not significantly detract from the quality of the whole. I ight want more figments, but that’s me being greedy. 5/5
Presentation: Marvelous. Simply marvelous. Internal and external art is good, layout is good. I have nothing I can complain about, and I wanted to, because I’m going to get a bad reputation as a critic if all my reviews are glowing. But, truth first: This is a beautiful product.
5/5
Price: I’m going to need folks to start charging more for your work, you’re making me look bad. The standard listed price is $5.00 and it’s on sale for $3.50, for 30 pages of grade A work. That is a steal of a deal, and I recommend heading straight to Drive Thru RPG to pick it up now, before Superdillin comes to their senses and raises the price to $10 dollars or more.
5/5
Aggregate Score: 5/5. This is a very fine product. Buy it. Now.
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Brilliant and a fun read. Neverland works on to amazing levels. First, it exemplifies the power of taking older content that might been seen as problematic by modern readers and reframing it in a new and interesting way. This reframing leads to the 2nd level that come from Stuart Hall’s work on reception theory. All entertainment from books, TV, and films, to TTRPGs are an interaction between the encoders (the writers, actors, etc.) and the decoders (audience, readers, etc.). TTRPGs are unique even beyond things like fan fiction in that the decoders, as players and GMs, are simultaneously decoding and reencoding the content of TTRPGs. Neverland offers an amazing insights into how content can be reencoded for a modern audience. Top notch stuff that I can’t recommend highly enough.
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Creator Reply: |
This is a beautiful review, I cannot thank you enough! I hope this setting brings some joy and adventure to your table! |
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I absolutely love this. my game group thoroughly enjoyed it too. i cancannot reccomend this enough.
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I was able to use Neverland: The Impossible Island to introduce my parents to D&D over the weekend and the setting was perfect! Diana manages to touch upon all the important aspects that fans of the source material are looking for, but they still manage to allow so much room for GM creativity! I was able to use the 'Red Handed Jill' module as a fantastic base for a solid 3 session arc, plus the subclass is a blast and the second module seems like a great time, so shoutout to Noir Enigma and Avalon's work, respectively! Overall, a must-have for any GM with a love of the Peter Pan mythos, and a great addition for GMs looking to add an interesting setting with incredible and unique mechanics to their shelf.
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Creator Reply: |
This is so spectacular to hear! Thank you so much for sharing this story with me and for leaving this review <3 I am so glad you found some joy from this guide. |
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It's such a beautiful and heartwarming setting, and really well done. I strongly recommend it!
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Creator Reply: |
I appreciate you saying that Martin! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, that means a lot to me. |
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I learned so much about Peter Pan from this. I haven't gotten a chance to play it as a setting but I love having as much source material as possible, especially such well thought out, well written, and interesting ones as this one!! Thank you so much for all your hard work!
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Creator Reply: |
This is so cool! I really do hope you get to play and that you have fun with it! Thank you so much for taking the time to say such kind things. |
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Really cool and interesting setting. Most of my experience with Peter Pan was from the the Disney cartoon so seeing some of the darker plots like the Mermaids or how Hook lost his hand were really fun surprises. Definitely worth picking up
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Creator Reply: |
This means so much to me, seriously! That was one of the things that fascinated me about the story too, that it wasn't what I remembered from childhood. Thank you for taking the time to write this, seriously. |
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Loads of fun and imsgination If you like pan, youll like this game
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What a wonderful and exciting interpretation of the source material! I hope to see some adventures and expanded material available soon.
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I love this book! I highly recommend it for fans of Peter Pan & people who plain like fun adventures. It's a heart-warming supplement.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you so much for enjoying and for reviewing Steffie!!! It means a lot that you took the time to write this. |
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A gorgeously written, beautifully creative rpg, with lots of fun, surprises, and intrigue packed in. Definitely easy to use. A well crafted tribute to the original story, while still standing on iuts own and ousting the problematic depictions that exists in that origin.
And again, it is fun!
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Creator Reply: |
This review is so meaningful, and I'm really so glad that you enjoyed it! The fact that you took the time to write this means a lot to me. Thank you so much. |
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I've been a fan of Diana for quite some time now and I was more than excited when this was announced.
The passion and love she has for the subject matter is palpable. It just grabs you from beginning and lovingly carries you the distance. I am a casual RPG player but this may be the one that gets me to cross that threshold into running a game of my own. And if anybody could give that much love and inspiration, it's Diana.
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Creator Reply: |
This review has touched me so profoundly, thank you so much. I can't say enough that you took the time to say this, and I truly hope you do cross the line! |
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So, I wrote a pseudo-review over on twitter where I just sorta screamed about how much I liked this setting while I read through it, but to try and give folks a more concise version of all that:
Diana has made an incredible, imaginative setting that could fairly easily be slotted in to any game, not just a 5e game. Her Neverland is chock full of opportunities for intrigue, high adventure, battles on the high seas or in the air, and whimsical magic. All the parts of Neverland you know and love are present, expanded beyond their source material in ways that made me, someone who didn't know the canon mythology very well, questioning what was existing and what was expanded.
There are joinable factions beyond the Lost Ones and The Pirates, and they're distinct while feeling recognizeable, despite me not knowing of them ahead of time. They feel like they belong, and give reasoning for their worldviews and who they're likely to ally with (and in which circumstances).
The rules added are flavorful, setting-appropriate, and don't fall victim to power imbalance. Monsters slot in easily, and whatever system you run this in (if any) can easily adapt the concepts to its rulesets.
There's also an explicit attempt to remove the source material's racism and other problematic aspects, including issues related to the perhaps best well known protrayal of the character. There are no indigenous stereotypes, women aren't bashed merely for existing as women, and a faction has a note about its gendered naming conventions. NPCs have their pronouns listed in their statblocks, Pan themself is genderfluid (a fact I personally love), and there are canon queer characters listed in the setting's supplied lore, complete with adorable backstories.
Also, for those of you, who, like myself, love playing fae-themed characters but don't appreciate that they're so frequently written to be helpful-but-amoral-at-best, the base setting establishes Neverland's fairies as explicitly benevolent, and a mysterious force to hopefully become allied to. Faelocks, you don't have to argue that your patron isn't secretly going to stick it to you with fae legalese, at least in Neverland.
The recent update has added an introductory adventure that I feel does an excellent job introducing many of the concepts and dynamics that Diana has established throughout the documents 30-or-so pages. Lots of campaigns could be started with the encounter, and plenty of secrets are capable of being discovered during the short scenario.
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, so please excuse this imperfect review, but at $5, this is an absolute steal. If you can spare the money, please check this out. It's clear that this is a well thought out labor of love, and Diana has done an amazing job of translating her vision of Neverland to 5e's ruleset, while allowing plenty of space for GMs to flex their creative muscles, regardless of whether or not their table is playing D&D.
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Creator Reply: |
I truly want you to know how much I appreciate the time and care you put into this review. This work meant a lot to me, and so you showing this much appreciation for it really made me feel accomplished. Thank you so much for this. |
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This is absolutely wonderful. I love how much care and passion was put into this setting. Diana has done a fantastic job of taking Barrie's Neverland & characters, removing possible problematic issues, and adapting them into a well established setting for 5E. I look forward to the possibility of more, with the Storyteller system as well.
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